Technically speaking, the television sitcom I Love Lucy was ahead of its time in several important ways. First of all, Desi Arnaz and Lucille Ball decided to shoot the show on 35 mm film instead of the low-quality 16 mm kinescope print used for most shows at the time -- this resulted in a much higher quality recording of the show for posterity. They also chose to film I Love Lucy in front of a live studio audience, resulting in much more realistic audience reactions than the "canned laughter" used on other shows. By the 1970s this would become common practice for sitcoms. And finally, working with the legendary Karl Freund, Desi pioneered the use of the three cameras to simultaneously film each scene, which allowed for much more flexibility in the editing room. The three camera filming format is also common practice today.